EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) — The Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer program, also known as the P-EBT, was issued as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but did you know 92% of states continued to send money to those cards?
The P-EBT was part of the U.S. government’s solution to help families pay for food while their children were home due to school closures during the pandemic. If your child received free lunches at school, you may have received an EBT card to purchase food while they were home.
The funding for the P-EBT program comes from federal COVID-19 relief packages, but the distribution and management has been handled by individual states with the approval of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Most of the states — 46 out of 50 — implemented this program during the 2021-2022 school year, and the majority were scheduled to receive benefits from the previous school year sometime between July and December.
Some states, however, have yet to allocate benefits to residents with P-EBT cards, and qualifying residents may still have funds coming their way.
States that should’ve received benefits for the 2021-2022 school year:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- California (Final benefits coming in from October to December)
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Indiana (Additional benefit in December)
- Louisianna
- Maine (Additional benefit in October)
- Maryland (Additional benefit in October)
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota (Additional benefit in October/November)
- Missouri
- Nebraska (Additional benefit in December)
- Nevada (Additional benefits until November)
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- New York (Additional benefit in November)
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio (Additional benefit in November)
- Oklahoma (Rolling basis)
- Oregon (Additional benefit in October)
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina (Additional benefit on October 26)
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia (Additional benefits until January 2023)
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin (Additional benefit in October)
States that should expect P-EBT benefits in the future:
- Arizona (By the end of October)
- Georgia (By the end of October)
- Kentucky (By the end of October)
- Mississippi (By the end of October)
- Montana (By the end of October)
- New Jersey (By the end of October)
- Wyoming (Multiple benefits from December to February 23)
States that don’t plan on sending out P-EBT services according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture:
- Alaska
- Idaho
- South Dakota
- Kansas
It’s important to note that states may have amended their benefit schedules from what was originally listed on their proposals, so the lists above might reflect exact dates. However, if states managed to stay on schedule, they’re expected to issue benefits by the dates indicated.
Check with your state’s website linked above for more detailed payment information. You can also call the phone number on your existing P-EBT card to check the balance.